Help choosing SMP

[Doc_adoodledoo]

Hey all, going to be doing an SMP to help boost my GPA and gain acceptance into medical school. Right now, I am accepted to all SMPs listed in the title and I need help weighing the Pros/Cons of each program. Now considering my age and situation, I would *prefer* to get into med school asap..

TouroCOM (DO)
PROS:

• 1 year program
• GPA 3.5> in MMS is guaranteed acceptance (2023 matriculation)

CONS:

• Graded on a curve, with only about 30 seats available at TouroCOM and about 65-70 students in the masters program, it will be *highly* competitive
• Expensive and high COL
• Flipped classroom model (idk if i consider it a pro or con.. neutral)

EVMS (MD) PROS:

• 1 year program
• no guaranteed acceptance / interviews, but 80%+ of graduates from the SMP gain admission into medical schools across the country within 1-2 years of graduating. (possibly 2023 matriculation, but most likely 2024)
• Normal grading system
• Nice city

CONS:

• No linkage program
• MD school, and I'm not sure that even with a good GPA in a masters if that will be good enough for an MD school acceptance (so I think I should stick with DO?)

LECOM-E (DO)
PROS:

• Normal grading system and cheaper program
• guaranteed interview with 3.3> MMS gpa (2023 matriculation if interview/grades goes well) [ guaranteed acceptance with 3.6 > gpa, hearing from former SMP students]
• A little closer to home (about 2h)

CONS:

• No guaranteed acceptance like Touro... guaranteed interview does not always = acceptance

PCOM-GA (DO)
PROS:

• guaranteed acceptance with 3.3> MMS gpa after 2 years
• guaranteed interview with 3.3 > gpa during 1st year
• Can live with family member who lives in the area
• More reputable DO school

CONS:

• 2 year program, with the 2nd year being thesis based (2024 matriculation)

*Any advice would be greatly appreciated!!*

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[tuf13119]

I wanted to provide some insight on the PCOM GA SMP to clear up some confusion. I currently go to the Philly SMP, but the GA SMP should be similar (with the exception of class schedule which differs between the campuses). For starters, I think the guaranteed acceptance is a little misleading. It is more of a guaranteed interview if you meet all the criteria. Both the guaranteed interview/acceptance states that you need a favorable interview. If you meet the criteria and don't perform well on the interview, then the DO school can reject or place you on the waitlist. As you stated guaranteed interview does not always mean acceptance.

The program is also a 1 year certificate or 2 year masters program. If you do get accepted during the 1st year, then you would get a certificate of completion and you would not have to do the 2nd year program. The 2nd year program is only for students continuing in the masters who either did not get accepted during their first year or students who did not apply yet and want to build their resume. Hope that helps with your decision making!

I'm biased towards the PCOM SMP, so I would say go there. HOWEVER, if any of the programs offers a true guaranteed acceptance I would choose that as you have the seat locked up as long as you perform well enough in the SMP.

 

[Doc_adoodledoo]

I wanted to provide some insight on the PCOM GA SMP to clear up some confusion. I currently go to the Philly SMP, but the GA SMP should be similar (with the exception of class schedule which differs between the campuses). For starters, I think the guaranteed acceptance is a little misleading. It is more of a guaranteed interview if you meet all the criteria. Both the guaranteed interview/acceptance states that you need a favorable interview. If you meet the criteria and don't perform well on the interview, then the DO school can reject or place you on the waitlist. As you stated guaranteed interview does not always mean acceptance.

The program is also a 1 year certificate or 2 year masters program. If you do get accepted during the 1st year, then you would get a certificate of completion and you would not have to do the 2nd year program. The 2nd year program is only for students continuing in the masters who either did not get accepted during their first year or students who did not apply yet and want to build their resume. Hope that helps with your decision making!

I'm biased towards the PCOM SMP, so I would say go there. HOWEVER, if any of the programs offers a true guaranteed acceptance I would choose that as you have the seat locked up as long as you perform well enough in the SMP.

I appreciate the insight! In order to gain acceptance during the first year, you have to meet the minimum sgpa requirements according to the website (which I would not be able to) so for me, it would HAVE to be a 2 year commitment.. right? I would love to go to PCOM, it is my first choice for DO school, but I really want to avoid doing a 2 year (especially thesis based) program. I have been in research for almost 3 years now and I am getting tired of it tbh lol. Considering my sgpa and stats, what do YOU think my chances are of getting accepted if i get a great SMP gpa?

 

[tuf13119]

I appreciate the insight! In order to gain acceptance during the first year, you have to meet the minimum sgpa requirements according to the website (which I would not be able to) so for me, it would HAVE to be a 2 year commitment.. right? I would love to go to PCOM, it is my first choice for DO school, but I really want to avoid doing a 2 year (especially thesis based) program. I have been in research for almost 3 years now and I am getting tired of it tbh lol. Considering my sgpa and stats, what do YOU think my chances are of getting accepted if i get a great SMP gpa?

I would honestly call the admissions for the biomed program and ask the question regarding your sGPA, since I do not know what advice to give on that. All I know is that they are sometimes lenient with the criteria like if maybe your CARS score was not >40%, but I do not know how lenient they are for the sGPA. I personally had 2 subsections under 40% (CARS and PSYCH/SOC), but they still gave me an interview during my 1st term which ultimately ended up being a waitlist.

I think your chances of getting in are good IF you do well the 1st term AND have a good/favorable interview. Again I wouldn't say it's a sure thing because anything can happen like a bad interview or not doing well in the program which might ultimately kill your chances at any med school. I didn't think the program was too hard. Getting the 3.3 GPA in the program is definitely obtainable if you study, but you want to shoot higher than that in case you do not get into PCOM directly.

 

[Doc_adoodledoo]

I would honestly call the admissions for the biomed program and ask the question regarding your sGPA, since I do not know what advice to give on that. All I know is that they are sometimes lenient with the criteria like if maybe your CARS score was not >40%, but I do not know how lenient they are for the sGPA. I personally had 2 subsections under 40% (CARS and PSYCH/SOC), but they still gave me an interview during my 1st term which ultimately ended up being a waitlist.

I think your chances of getting in are good IF you do well the 1st term AND have a good/favorable interview. Again I wouldn't say it's a sure thing because anything can happen like a bad interview or not doing well in the program which might ultimately kill your chances at any med school. I didn't think the program was too hard. Getting the 3.3 GPA in the program is definitely obtainable if you study, but you want to shoot higher than that in case you do not get into PCOM directly.

Yes I will definitely shoot them a call! I scored above 40% on every MCAT section so the only thing lacking would be my sgpa. I will post their response here after I hear back from them. Yes, doing well in any SMP is a must in order to gain admission to any med school that's for sure

 

[tuf13119]

Yes I will definitely shoot them a call! I scored above 40% on every MCAT section so the only thing lacking would be my sgpa. I will post their response here after I hear back from them. Yes, doing well in any SMP is a must in order to gain admission to any med school that's for sure

If you do not care about where you want to go for medical school, then the TouroCOM is a decent option because their program is a guaranteed acceptance last I checked. Then again, I do not know how hard the program is to obtain the 3.5 GPA so you may want to ask in the TouroCOM masters thread to see previous students experience with the program.

I personally prefer guaranteed acceptance > guaranteed interview. I don't know anything about the EVMS and FAU SMP's to give an opinion

 

[Goro]

Hey all, going to be doing an SMP to help boost my GPA and gain acceptance into medical school. Right now, I am accepted to all SMPs listed in the title and I need help weighing the Pros/Cons of each program. Now considering my age and situation, I would *prefer* to get into med school asap..

ME:
- 26 years old, 507 MCAT, 3.04 sGPA, 2.90 cGPA
- research 2.5 years (co-author on a few pubs), lots of clinical and nonclinical volunteering over the years, plenty of shadowing experience
- Went to a state college and got terrible grades, transferred to a different school for my last 2 years and averaged about a 3.3/3.4 there

TouroCOM (DO)
PROS:

• 1 year program
• GPA 3.5> in MMS is guaranteed acceptance (2023 matriculation)

CONS:

• Graded on a curve, with only about 30 seats available at TouroCOM and about 65-70 students in the masters program, it will be *highly* competitive
• Expensive and high COL
• Flipped classroom model (idk if i consider it a pro or con.. neutral)

EVMS (MD) PROS:

• 1 year program
• no guaranteed acceptance / interviews, but 80%+ of graduates from the SMP gain admission into medical schools across the country within 1-2 years of graduating. (possibly 2023 matriculation, but most likely 2024)
• Normal grading system
• Nice city

CONS:

• No linkage program
• MD school, and I'm not sure that even with a good GPA in a masters if that will be good enough for an MD school acceptance (so I think I should stick with DO?)

LECOM-E (DO)
PROS:

• Normal grading system and cheaper program
• guaranteed interview with 3.3> MMS gpa (2023 matriculation if interview/grades goes well) [ guaranteed acceptance with 3.6 > gpa, hearing from former SMP students]
• A little closer to home (about 2h)

CONS:

• No guaranteed acceptance like Touro... guaranteed interview does not always = acceptance

PCOM-GA (DO)
PROS:

• guaranteed acceptance with 3.3> MMS gpa after 2 years
• guaranteed interview with 3.3 > gpa during 1st year
• Can live with family member who lives in the area
• More reputable DO school

CONS:

• 2 year program, with the 2nd year being thesis based (2024 matriculation)

*Any advice would be greatly appreciated!!*

LECOM-E.

If you can't break 3.3 at an SMP, you'll struggle in med school all the same, if not worse.

I don't recommend SMPs that try to milk you for a second year of tuition.

 

[Doc_adoodledoo]

LECOM-E.

If you can't break 3.3 at an SMP, you'll struggle in med school all the same, if not worse.

I don't recommend SMPs that try to milk you for a second year of tuition.

Thank you for the response Goro, I appreciate your insight more than you can ever know! And yes I agree. I am VERY motivated to do well in these masters program, so I'm confident I will do very well wherever I go. However, I have seen on previous posts where you comment saying how you are not a fan of LECOM. Is that only due to the dress code and strict atmosphere? "treating them like children" if you will. If that is the only reason, I can deal with that. Plus, there is 3 different learning pathways to choose from and I would try to get into the DSP (direct study pathway) that doesn't have mandatory class every single day 8am - 5pm.. which I think is ridiculous. The SMP at lecom follows the LDP (lecture based) with the everyday classes 8-5, but I can deal with that for 1 year if I do well enough I can do the DSP once I get accepted.

 

[Goro]

Yes, the only reason I don't like Lecom is due to the dress code and required attendance. But that cheap tuition is not something to be ignored either.

It's a fine school.

 

[drillteam]

Yes, the only reason I don't like Lecom is due to the dress code and required attendance. But that cheap tuition is not something to be ignored either.

It's a fine school.

 

[drillteam]

Chiming in. EVMS is a solid program and if you do well it is more likely to get you into an MD program IF that is important to you

 

[M3_SixSpeed]

Chiming in. EVMS is a solid program and if you do well it is more likely to get you into an MD program IF that is important to you

I second that. I did the EVMS program and matriculated. Huge perk is the same content is used during your M1 year so it gives you a good head start and makes M1 year a bit more chill.

 

[Dr.GreenHuman]

Touro student here. The grade curve does make it pretty stressful, but if you put the work in the SMP year, then you should do very well in first year.